WHEN you meet Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O'Brien,
it's almost impossible not to jump to the left, step to the right,
put your hands on your hips, bring your knees in tight and do some
pelvic thrusts.

It was tough, but I managed to resist doing the Time Warp again.

The man who devised Rocky Horror's iconic dance routine and
its hero Frank N Furter - the "sweet transvestite from transexual
Transylvannia" - is launching his new musical The Stripper in
Glasgow.

He will star in the show - based on a pulp detective novel - with
former Coronation Street actor Jonathan Wrather at the King's
Theatre next month. If it is a fraction as successful as his 1973 hit
The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 movie version, he will be quids in.

Richard, 67, said: "I wrote it 25 years ago but I revisited it
and decided it was time to do something. I insisted on putting the show
on in Glasgow because audiences there are very committed.

"They'll give me a true reading of the musical and I
should know if I was right - or if I've been deluding myself."

Richard also has a new production of The Rocky Horror Show -
starring ex-Holby City actor David Bedella - at the King's in
November.

Richard's idea was to do a show on a shoestring after starring
in a pounds 7million version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in London's
West End.

He said of The Stripper: "It's a populist show. I want
people who spend money to come to a theatre and leave feeling a bit
better than when they came in."

Richard cast Jonathan in the lead as Lieutenant Al Wheeler - a cop
who investigates the death of an actress - after hearing him sing at a
charity event. He added: "We raise money for the Royal Manchester
Children's Hospital, and showbiz friends, including Jonathan, get
up and sing a few jazz standards. I discovered what a good voice he
had."

Richard made his acting debut in the 1965 movie Carry On Cowboy as
a horse-riding stunt man.

He also starred in the '60s production of rock musical Hair
and became friends with Scottish rock legend Alex Harvey, who played
guitar in the house band.

Richard said: "Alex was a dear friend. In 1977, we made an
album together - The Loch Ness Monster.

"I always knew Alex would be a star. There was something
irrepressible about him."

In 1990, Richard hosted the hit Channel 4 quiz series The Crystal
Maze. He added: "I also appeared in panto and discovered the great
joy of playing to children.

"When I played the Child Catcher in Chitty I was terrifying on
that stage.

"But I insisted I would not send any child home to have a
nightmare. When we took our curtain call I had the children in the cast
come to me. That way the audience realised it was all just
make-believe."

Any conversation with Richard eventually rests on The Rocky Horror
Show which has been in continuous production since 1973.

The film version - which starred Tim Curry as Frank N Furter, Susan
Sarandon as Janet Weiss, Meat Loaf as Eddie and Richard as hunchbacked
handyman Riff Raff - has become a phenomenon.

Richard said: "I grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand, after my
family emigrated in 1951 - and enjoyed many a late night in my local
cinema, the Empire.

"I'd watch old B-movies. The worse they were, the better
it was."

The 1973 stage version of Rocky Horror - starring Tim and Richard -
earned rave reviews in London. But it was the film which wowed audiences
around the world.

Richard said: "I had no idea what a phenomenon Rocky would
become. Frank N Furter was not quite male and not quite female but he IS
God-like. He's got the qualities of Richard III and Cruella de Vil.

"It took courage for Tim to stand on stage wearing stockings
and suspenders, and sing: 'I'm just a sweet transvestite from
transexual Transylvannia'."

A measure of the show's enduring appeal is a 25ft-high bronze
statue of Richard - as Riff Raff- erected on the Empire site in 2004.

"How many people can say they've got their own
statue?" he boasted. "I was overawed." The Stripper is at
the King's Theatre, Glasgow, from September 29 until October 3. The
Rocky Horror Show is at the venue from November 23-28.